This invention relates to golf bags and, more particularly, to a golf club travel bag that facilitates the transportation of gold clubs and accessories.
A variety of golf club travel bags are known in the art. The travel bags range from thin nylon shells to hard cover cases. The thin nylon shell bags are desirable because they are light weight and easy to use. However, many of the thin nylon shell bags provide little, if any, protection for the golf clubs. The hard shell cases, on the other hand, provide a great deal of protection for the clubs. In addition, the hard shell cases are capable of carrying accessory items such as shoes. Although possessing many advantages, the hard shell cases are heavy and generally cumbersome to use and, thus, less desirable.
Soft or padded shell cases have grown in popularity due to their light weight construction and their ability to provide the golf clubs more protection than the nylon shell bags. Like the hard shell cases, the soft shell cases are also capable of carrying other items such as shoes. However, even these cases do not always provide sufficient protection to the clubs during airplane travel because of the manner in which such bags are handled by baggage handlers.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a golf club travel bag that is relatively light weight, that provides sufficient protection for the golf clubs, that is capable of carrying additional items including golf shoes, and that is constructed in a manner to provide more protection for the clubs during rough handling and without adding significant weight to the bag.
The golf club travel bag of the present invention is a relatively light weight travel bag that provides sufficient protection for the golf clubs while being capable of carrying additional items including golf shoes and clothing, and being constructed in a manner that is less susceptible to tearing and damage to the clubs. It preferably comprises a generally parallelpiped shaped bag body formed from elongated front, rear, right and left side panels, and having a generally flat bottom portion and arcuate top portion. The panels preferably include a durable knit backing internal to the bag, a durable external shell constructed from ballistic nylon or the like, a layer of foam padding interposing the knit backing and the nylon shell, and several rigid plastic panels strategically located to provide more protection to the clubs. The bottom preferably includes one or more wheels to aid in rolling the bag, and the back preferably has skids to facilitate sliding the bag into a luggage compartment.
A zipper is sewn along an edge of the left side panel adjacent the front panel, and extends along the length of the bag around the top, side and bottom to expose the interior of the travel bag and allow a golf bag and a set of golf clubs to be placed inside of the travel bag. An inset shoe case is recessed into the travel bag from the front panel adjacent the top. A generally rectangular flap of the front panel operably covers the shoe case. The flap, which is integral With the front panel along the bottom of the flap, is connected to the front panel via a zipper. The zipper can be undone to provide access to the inset shoe case.
Importantly, the travel bag has several plastic panels strategically placed to provide protection to golf clubs, also, similar panels are included at the bottom and along a portion of the back as will be explained further later.
The inset shoe case is preferably located adjacent the top of the bag to prevent the shoe case from interfering with a golf bag stored therein. The location of the shoe case advantageously reduces jostling of the club heads, and resultant damage thereto, during transport.
The front also preferably includes to zipped compartments for clothes and other items.
An object of this invention is to provide an improved golf club travel bag.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the drawings and ensuing description.